Forging Multilingual Spaces

This book proposes an integrated approach to the study of bilingual education in minority and majority settings. Contributions from scholars in different countries in Europe and the Americas show how to bridge the gap between elite bilingualism and the bilingualism of minority communities and work towards multilingual spaces. This book offers a new perspective for research in the field of bilingual education by proposing an integrated approach to the study of bilingualism in minority and majority settings. Programmes for indigenous groups, for national minorities and for migrants are analysed together with programmes aimed at dominant language groups, by well-known scholars from eight different countries in Europe and the Americas. Each contribution seeks to go beyond the traditional dichotomy between policy, practice and research into bilingual education programmes for majority language speakers, and modalities offered for minority language speakers. Thus, the book argues for the construction of a shared discourse for research into bilingualism and bilingual education and for the adoption of an ecological perspective on language education.